New to Holland America, Embarkation Question

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Also, apropos of nothing, I received four free drink coupons from Southwest in the mail yesterday, so I may take it upon myself to quaff a Bloody Mary on our outbound flight. Nothing to do with this thread; it's just making me smile.

 

Wonderful! You'll arrive in Seattle in excellent spirits (haha:D). If it makes you feel any better, my sister and I are doing the Eurodam to Alaska on May 20, and we plan to arrive by 11am:D We like to take pictures and find even the terminal at pier 91 exciting ( but we are the ultimate cruising geeks;)).

[bnickle]

Wonderful! You'll arrive in Seattle in excellent spirits (haha:D). If it makes you feel any better, my sister and I are doing the Eurodam to Alaska on May 20, and we plan to arrive by 11am:D We like to take pictures and find even the terminal at pier 91 exciting ( but we are the ultimate cruising geeks;)).

 

 

Have a wonderful time! I think I've arranged for the car to pick us to to take us to the pier about 10:45. So pretty much the same plan. We just visited Seattle for the first time last fall and just loved it so we're excited to spend a couple of days there with the kids.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Have a wonderful time! I think I've arranged for the car to pick us to to take us to the pier about 10:45. So pretty much the same plan. We just visited Seattle for the first time last fall and just loved it so we're excited to spend a couple of days there with the kids.

 

This is a nice time of year to visit Seattle with long hours of daylight, and all the flowers out:) Have fun with the family. I see you are cruising a couple of weeks after we are. My sister will be doing her live photo and travel blog, if you want to follow along. We can give you a riveting blow by blow description of our embarkation process:D Bon Voyage!

[bnickle]

This is a nice time of year to visit Seattle with long hours of daylight, and all the flowers out:) Have fun with the family. I see you are cruising a couple of weeks after we are. My sister will be doing her live photo and travel blog, if you want to follow along. We can give you a riveting blow by blow description of our embarkation process:D Bon Voyage!

 

 

I am totally on board for this. (See what I did there? I slay myself.) Very cool, and bon voyage!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Wonderful! You'll arrive in Seattle in excellent spirits (haha:D). If it makes you feel any better, my sister and I are doing the Eurodam to Alaska on May 20, and we plan to arrive by 11am:D We like to take pictures and find even the terminal at pier 91 exciting ( but we are the ultimate cruising geeks;)).

 

OK, so one cruise geek to another, what's exciting at pier 91? I've never sailed out of Seattle.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

OK, so one cruise geek to another, what's exciting at pier 91? I've never sailed out of Seattle.

 

OK, here's a partial list: Just the THRILL of being about to embark on another cruise:D The buzz of excitement from the other passengers. Looking out the big windows at the view of the Seattle skyline, and OUR ship waiting for us at the pier. Checking in, being greeted by so many smiling, helpful cruise terminal staff. Sometimes, particularly if the ship's hotel manager is on the ball, HAL sets up a coffee/tea/lemonade and raisin bun table for the waiting pax:D

 

Pier 91, where the cruise ships arrive/depart, is also an area for the larger commercial fishing boats. So it's interesting to see them as you approach the entrance to the terminal. There's the Smith Cove marina right near by, with Smith Cove Park by the Magnolia Bluffs, which provides a wonderful view point from which to photograph the cruise ships. There are plans afoot for improving the Smith Cove Park area. There's a pleasant family-friendly restaurant nearby called Maggie Bluff's, which also has nice views of the marina and cruise port. (It shares space with the Palisades restaurant, which is upstairs and more upscale than Maggie Bluff's).

 

Just a few random thoughts:D

[Gunther1]

Pier 91 by itself is not exactly exciting. It's about two miles north of downtown....which means you have an EXCELLENT view of downtown and the Space Needle.

 

But that's just my opinion....and I don't consider myself a cruise geek. I have the extreme fortune to work on the waterfront BETWEEN downtown and pier 91, so have a view of both. For that I am very grateful :).

[judymag]

I hope there not reinforcing it in Vancouver in June I intend arriving at 11:30 to the port as my dad has dementia and I find it easier to get him on board and explore the ship at our leasure

 

 

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[gentlemancruiser]

We are sailing Jun 4th on the Konnningsdam from Amsterdam and we've received the timed boarding message with all of our docs as well as when we booked. There was no way of missing it.

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by gentlemancruiser
spelling

[styles27]

We are sailing on the Eurodam three weeks from Saturday, on the 7 day Alaska itinerary. I just got an email from HAL about "an important update." The update is that there is a staggered schedule to board, so that boarding for deck 6 begins at 1:30 in the afternoon. Is this the normal way of doing things? My understanding from reading the boards is that people just typically start showing up at the cruise terminal 11ish or so, with no fixed schedule to board. Not trying to be nit picky, but the 11ish schedule worked great with the checkout time of the condo we've rented. So my question is, I guess, is it a new thing for HAL to have a boarding schedule?

 

 

We got the same email before our May 6th Eurodam cruise. It's a guideline but they don't adhere to it.

 

We were on deck 5 and we're supposed to appear at 1 or 1:30.

We arrived about 11-11:15 and we were on board before noon.

 

Nobody told us we couldn't get on because we arrived before our scheduled time.

 

 

 

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[calteacher]

Sorry for the rant.

Edited May 21, 2017 by calteacher

[Sequim88]

Contrary to earlier post in this thread I've now received the message - roughly three weeks out. We had planned for a special champagne toast in the MDR at 1pm PDT to coincide with 3pm CDT - approximately 40 years to the minute from our "I do's." A 1:30pm boarding time would certainly put a kink in that plan. I think we will stick to the 11-11:30 arrival and let HAL board us with the other wheelchair passengers at their discretion and take our chances.

[bnickle]

Contrary to earlier post in this thread I've now received the message - roughly three weeks out. We had planned for a special champagne toast in the MDR at 1pm PDT to coincide with 3pm CDT - approximately 40 years to the minute from our "I do's." A 1:30pm boarding time would certainly put a kink in that plan. I think we will stick to the 11-11:30 arrival and let HAL board us with the other wheelchair passengers at their discretion and take our chances.

 

Celebrate! Congratulations! Have a wonderful trip, and hope that the bubbly is raised at just the right moment!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

We boarded Eurodam in Seattle just a few days ago, and got the same form email about the staggered boarding, too. We ignored it, and arrived at pier 91 at 11am, got checked in and boarded at 11:30am, which is when boarding began. We were toasting a Bon Voyage to ourselves in the main dining room with a glass of Nicholas Feuillate shortly after 12 noon:D

[Reagan0712]

We are sailing Jun 4th on the Konnningsdam from Amsterdam and we've received the timed boarding message with all of our docs as well as when we booked. There was no way of missing it.

 

Something just occurred to me. We stayed at Movenpick last summer before boarding Koningsdam. We were given our check-in time of 11:00am at the HAL desk in the hotel lobby. I believe the hotel guests are given early check-in times in order to get them out of the hotel and over to the waiting area. We then waited in the boarding area about 40 minutes before starting to board. But, looking at the above schedule we were still early for our Deck 6 cabin.

[gentlemancruiser]

Something just occurred to me. We stayed at Movenpick last summer before boarding Koningsdam. We were given our check-in time of 11:00am at the HAL desk in the hotel lobby. I believe the hotel guests are given early check-in times in order to get them out of the hotel and over to the waiting area. We then waited in the boarding area about 40 minutes before starting to board. But, looking at the above schedule we were still early for our Deck 6 cabin.

Thanks. We are staying at the Movenpick but we're on our own. The HAL group wasn't available.